Burundi today, after a year of unrest

A photographic journey through a year of unrest, brutality and repression in a country in crisis.

Bujumbura, Burundi - Burundi's post-colonial history is stained by civil war, massacres, and two genocides.

In 2005, following a peace accord, Pierre Nkurunziza was elected president by parliament, and in 2010 secured a second term in a national plebiscite.

Last year, on April 25, the CNDD-FDD, Burundi's ruling party, announced Nkurunziza as their candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections. This sparked widespread protests across the capital, as demonstrators denounced the bid for a third term as unconstitutional. A heavy-handed police response further increased the protests, and was followed by a failed military coup in mid-May.

The authorities' response to the "terrorists", as it has labelled the protesters, has become even more brutal, with widespread repression in opposition neighbourhoods.

Last week Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the United Nations human rights chief, warned of "a sharp increase in the use of torture and ill-treatment in Burundi". He said that hundreds had been tortured or ill-treated by security forces, and Reuters reports that at least 400 people have been killed since the protests began - 90 people were killed in a single day in December.

Grenade attacks have targeted both civilians and security forces since last year, and "rebels" make infrequent incursions into the interior. Meanwhile, more than 250,000 people have fled the country; most now live in refugee camps in neighbouring Rwanda and Tanzania.

The UN Security Council has twice visited Burundi since the crisis erupted, but no solution to the violence has been found. The UN is expecting the number of refugees to reach at least 330,000 by the end of the year.

Thousands took to the streets when protests erupted last year in Burundi, opposing the president's bid for a third term in office. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

Protesters set up barricades in several neighbourhoods of the capital, blocking access to the police, who were accused of coming in at night and dragging away opposition supporters. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

During the protests, the army was largely seen as a neutral force, reducing tensions between police and protesters. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

Police forcefully blocked protesters from moving towards the city centre, keeping them largely confined to what became termed as opposition neighbourhoods. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

Police used tear gas and live bullets against protesters, resulting in several deaths. Protesters often retaliated by throwing rocks. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

A man lies on a gurney after being hit by a bullet fired by police during protests in early May. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

Thousands of people fled the country during the first few weeks of the crisis, fearing a return to the violence Burundi has endured in the past. [Phil Moore /Al Jazeera]

On June 25, 2015, students who had camped out by the American embassy panicked and jumped the walls of the embassy compound, fearing a raid on their camp by police. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

Relatives of Patrick Ndikumana mourn his death at the family's home after a raid on the neighbourhood by police who, the family say, shot Patrick and subsequently stabbed him to death. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

Delayed presidential elections finally took place on July 21, in circumstances that international observers described as "tainted" by intimidation and violence. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

In December 2015, attacks on three military camps in the capital were followed by a crackdown, and "the streets of Bujumbura were left littered with bodies", according to Amnesty International, which said: "Men were dragged out of their homes and shot at close range." Police raids, such as the one pictured here, continued into January. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

The violence and intimidation has left many neighbourhoods all but deserted; the population who do remain live with great fear. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]

Nearly 260,000 have fled the country over the past 12 months. The Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania alone is home to nearly 80,000 Burundians, and is desperately over-capacity, with people living in temporary shelters. [Phil Moore/Oxfam/Al Jazeera]

With no political solution in sight, refugees say they are too scared to go back home, fearing a return to the violence that marked the past several decades. [Phil Moore/Oxfam/Al Jazeera]

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